La Femme Chevalier
by DasKhaleesi
Summary: There was no way that she was going to let her sick brother be dragged off to Camelot. The only way to save him would be to take his place.
1. Chapter 1

La Femme Chevalier

So, after a long time not writing any fanfiction, this idea came to me out of the blue. Its based on Merlin, but most of the characters from the show don't show up for a few chapters. At the beginning, it is purely about my O.C., Eleanor, whose story is inspired by Mulan and the gist I have gotten from the Brave trailers (the new Pixar movie).

So I hope you don't hate it. I know that reading a fic with an O.C. in it can be a little disappointing at times (I don't normally read them myself), but I won't be satisfied until I write this story. So here it goes.

I don't own Merlin, and reviews are appreciated.

Chapter 1

When Eleanor received the letter, she knew that all hope was lost. She knew that her family had just reached rock bottom, and there was no way that they could come back from it. She though that rock bottom came when her dad passed away. Then her mom, her brother, and her all had to leave their village to flee to Camelot from the Dorocha. During that time, her brother, Etienne, had become gravely ill, which made it nearly impossible to return to their village after the Dorocha had been vanquished. So, they stayed with her aunt and uncle in a village nearer to Camelot.

For a while, things started to settle down. Etienne was getting better, and they had decided that it was time to return to their village. They did not want to impose more on her aunt and uncle, and with all of the changes that were happening in Camelot with the new king, her mother thought that it would be to their advantage to get as far away from the city as possible.

The journey was far from pleasant, and Etienne's illness got worse. She wasn't sure he was going to make it, but Etienne was always a fighter. They both were, from the moment they were born. Her mother told them that, as twins, they couldn't be more different. The only similarity was their undeniable strength.

Now, just after they had come back from their long journey and settled back into their quant house, one of the Lords of Camelot rode in with some soldiers. Eleanor was out getting water to make dinner when she saw them. She prayed that they were only passing through on patrol, and not bringing more bad news. However, she had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The letter was almost a slap in the face. It was summoned one male from their close family to Camelot to join the army. Since her father was dead, and she had no other brothers, that left Etienne as the only option. The Etienne who wouldn't hurt a fly. The Etienne who was laying in the bed in the next room, fighting for his life. Her Etienne. She understood that Camelot needed to be protected, and she was loyal to the king. That being said, she would rather die then let Etienne join the army in the condition that he was in. So, she ran out of her house to find one of the soldiers to talk to, hopefully someone that would understand. She needed Camelot to leave her brother alone.

She ran out of her house, following the red caped soldier who had delivered the message. Once she reached him, she grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around.

"Excuse me, sir, but I need to talk to you about this letter." She said in the most threatening voice she could possibly muster. He looked at her curiously and batted her hand away from his arm.

"What do you want?"

"Well, you delivered this letter to my house just now asking for one male in each family to join the army."

"Yes, every family has been asked to do so. The king wants to build up his army to make sure the kingdom is protected," he said plainly, as if he though very little of what the king was asking her to give away.

"Yes, but my father is dead, and my brother is very ill" she pleaded.

"Families without a male are not required to send anyone. However, families with a male that can lift a sword that choose not to send him to Camelot will pay a hefty fine. So, tell me, girl, can you brother lift a sword?"

She paused for a second to think of her answer. She knew Etienne was awake and conscious, and could walk about by himself. He could probably lift a sword with all of the determination he had. She knew he couldn't go through army training or fight a battle.

"No," she said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. She looked into the soldier's eyes, and could immediately tell that he wasn't going to buy it.

"Well, let's go see for ourselves," he said, already walking towards her house before she could even process a response. She followed him, trying to argue with him and get him to stop his nonsense, but he had already tuned her out. He pushed in the door of her house, scaring the wits out of her mother. After calming herself down, she looked him over, clearly confused about what the hell was going on. She looked at Eleanor with a flash of concern in her eyes before turning back to the soldier.

"Can I help you?" she said with great hesitation.

"Yes ma'am, where is your son?" The soldier looked around, wanting to get to the bottom of this quickly. Her mother was too shocked to speak, so she just pointed at the door to the left of the main room, where Etienne was resting. The soldier nodded and proceeded to go to the bedroom, not bothering to ask for permission. Opening the door, he entered the room, and was immediately startled to see the pale, sleeping young man in front of him. Without saying a word, he slowly stepped out of the room and closed the door softly.

"You were right to come to me with your concerns. I will go talk to Lord Agravaine and tell him about your predicament," he said to Eleanor. She could tell that he regretted his previously harsh attitude towards her family's predicament, but she still had resentment towards him. After all, he might still be taking her brother away.

"Thank you sir. But before you go, may I ask what your name is?" Eleanor didn't really care what his name was. Frankly, she didn't care if this man never stepped foot inside her village again. She just wanted to try and gain a bit more favor with him. Anything that could help Etienne was well worth it.

"Jonathon, ma'am. And yours?"

"Eleanor. This is my mother, Veronica, and my brother is named Etienne." She tried to sound as polite as possible. She knew being charming was never a gift of hers, as her mother constantly told her, but she could tell that her small amount of charm was working on the soldier.

"Well, it was nice to meet you. I will come back later to give you word of what Lord Agravaine says." He turned around and started walking towards the door. Just as he was about to step out, he turned to Eleanor and Veronica and said, "Try not to worry to much. Lord Agraviane is the king's uncle, and the king's advisor. I imagine the king would pity your situation, so I think his uncle will do the same." With that, he left the home.

Eleanor let go of the breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She looked at her mom, who was clearly still in shock and confused over what just occurred in her house.

"Care to explain what just happened, Ellen?" Eleanor tried to find the right words to explain the situation without giving her mom a complete heart attack.

Jonathon approached the Lord timidly. He hadn't heard much about Lord Agravaine's character. He could only assume that he was like his nephew, who Jonathon heard was a good, honest man. Sure, the king made some mistakes, but Jonathon reasoned that the King was just human and was relatively new to the position.

"I have come to talk to Lord Agravaine." he said to one of his fellow soldiers. The soldier looked back at the Lord sitting at the desk in his tent. The lord simply waved Jonathon in.

"What seems to be the problem soldier?" The Lord said, barely looking up from the paper that was in front of him.

"I passed out the notices today, like you had asked me to do. However, there is one family that has a bit of a problem. You see, they have a son who is old enough to fight, but he is not fit to fight, sire." The Lord briefly looked up from him papers, studying Jonathon's face.

"Are you sure the family is not just telling you lies to save their precious son from war?" The Lord looked doubtful, which made Jonathon even more nervous then he already was.

"I saw the boy, and he looks rather ill…"

"Rather ill? Are you sure he wasn't just pretending to be ill?" The Lord looked at Jonathon like he was searching for a lie in the soldier's eyes. Before Jonathon could answer him, the Lord interrupted him.

"And let's say this boy is truly ill. What if that gives everyone in this small, dreadful village the idea to try to get their sons out of war by faking illnesses?" Jonathon was shocked by the Lord's harsh words. Surely he could not believe that everyone in the village would deceive the king.

"Does this family even have the money to pay to fine that is required to get this boy out of service?" Jonathon didn't even know how to answer that one. Just by looking at the family's house, he could tell that they would not have the money to pay the hefty fine.

"No, sire, I don't believe so," he said sadly. He already knew that he had lost this fight, and had, therefore, caused this family's sorrow.

"Well, then I guess the boy will just have to report to Camelot. If he is too sick and we have no use for him, he can be an assistant or we will send him home." The Lord looked back down at his papers and continued with what he was doing. Jonathon was completely stunned. How could a man be so cruel to a family that had so little? He hoped that the king was nothing like his uncle.

"What if the boy doesn't make it to Camelot?" Jonathon asked as a last effort to convince the Lord to change his mind. The Lord looked at him, confused about Jonathon's attachment to this boy and his family.

"You may have a point. And because I am such a good man, I will allow the family a month to nurse the boy to a condition where he can travel. You will come and collect him at the end of the month." Jonathon wanted to respond to this. He wanted to ask the Lord what to do if the boy was still too ill. He also wanted to give the King's uncle a piece of his mind, but he knew that that would only make the situation worse. He never got a chance, though. The Lord simply waved off Jonathon and said, "Dismissed."

Eleanor was pacing across the small main room of her house. A thousand thoughts rushed in her mind about what to do with this situation. She prayed that Jonathon was successful. She thought about what she could do if he wasn't. They could flee the kingdom, but she wasn't sure that Etienne could handle the trip. Plus, the thought of leaving her home made her sick. She could come with Etienne to Camelot and take care of him, maybe even try and talk to the king, but she didn't want to leave her mother behind.

"For the love of God, Ellen, would you go somewhere else with your pacing!" Eleanor looked over at her mother, who was just as nervous as she was. Her mother was just better at hiding it. She thought about going outside for a walk, but she didn't want to miss Jonathon. Then, as if fate had read her mind, there was a knock on the door. Eleanor ran to the door to open it.

"What did he say?" She said to Jonathon without even inviting him in. Her stomach turned as she awaited his answer. He looked down at his hands, not wanting to make eye contact with her. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"He is going to give your brother a month to become well enough to travel. At the end of the month, I will come to bring him to Camelot. If he is not fit for battle, they will find something else for him to do or send him home."

Eleanor looked back at her mother, who had tears in her eyes. She knew that the same thoughts were running though both of their minds: what if he can't make it to Camelot? What if the journey kills him? What if he is forced to fight, or do chores that he is too weak to handle? What if they never see him again?


	2. Chapter 2

So, here is the second chapter. Please read and review! Again, dont own anything.

Tora2010

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><p>Eleanor sat by her brother, who was trying to explain that he felt a lot better and could easily make the trip to Camelot. She understood why he felt the need to be strong. He doesn't want his family to worry about him. He wants to feel honorable. He doesn't want the family to have to pay a fine because he is sick. However, Eleanor just didn't want to hear it. She knew that he was not well enough to go to Camelot. He was feeling better and his fever has finally broken, but that doesn't mean that he should get up and join the army.<p>

"Are you even listening to me, Ellie?" Her brother snapped her out of her train of thought.

"Of course I'm not listening to you. I don't listen to idiots talking nonsense, Etie," she responded. He gave her a dirty look, obviously not pleased with her retort.

"I'm not talking nonsense! I have to do this, Ellie, and it would be so much easier if you would just let it go and give me your blessing."

"You always have my blessing and my prayers, but that doesn't mean that I have to be happy about what that tyrant of a king is forcing you to do." She tried to sound as calm as possible, trying not to start up another fight with her brother. They had been fighting on and off for the past month since Etienne learned of his call to service. He thought that Eleanor had no faith in him, which wasn't the case. She had faith that he could do whatever he put his mind to, but she also had to protect him.

"I'll be fine! They will probably just make me polish boots or something. And if I have to fight, then so be it." It scared her how nonchalant he was acting about this whole situation.

"And what if you die?" she snapped at him. She knew he would take it way too personally, him having potentially the biggest male ego in the whole kingdom.

"Then I will die a hero!" He sounded so proud. It made her want to slap some sense into him.

"Alright, well, I'm going to leave you to get some rest, my humble hero, before we both kill each other in our bickering. Plus, you should sleep before you leave tomorrow." Tomorrow. It was almost scary how fast a month went by. Jonathon should be coming in tonight. Tomorrow, he would take her brother away from her, possibly for good.

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><p>Veronica was carefully folding the linens, trying to keep busy so that she wouldn't think about tomorrow. They were going to take her baby away from her.<p>

She could just feel that nothing good was going to come out of this. Sure, Etienne was getting better, but he had been sick for a while. If he traveled and strained himself, there was a very real possibility that he could make the illness worse.

These morbid thoughts started to make her panic. She couldn't do this. If she had another son, one who wasn't sick, she would be proud to have him serve in King Arthur's army. But this was an entirely different situation. Couldn't the army just leave them alone?

As if responding to her thought, she heard a painful moan come from her son. Running over to him, she placed a hand on his head, and felt the heat coming from his body. She nearly burst into tears right then. She was going to lose him.

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><p>Jonathon rode up to the small house with distain. He had been dreading this day since he was last at this house. He knew that he had to follow orders, but he wished that he could just leave this family alone. Sure, he may have thought the worse of them when he first met Eleanor. He thought she was just trying to beg for her brother's freedom. Now, he just wanted to turn his horse around and head back to Camelot. He wanted to tell Lord Agravaine that the boy had died. The Lord might believe him, but his instincts told him otherwise. That vile man would probably travel out to the village just to see for himself. Then, he would probably hang Jonathon, and he couldn't let that happen.<p>

He dismounted his horse and tied it to a nearby post. He then went to knock on the door, but was stopped when Eleanor opened the door to greet him. Obviously, she had been anticipating his arrival, probably with great distain.

"You can't take him," Eleanor spat at him. Her eyes were wild with fear and anger.

"What happened?" He asked.

"He took a fever during the day. My mother is caring for him now. He is in no condition to ride, and absolutely in no condition to join your bloody army." She trying to hold herself back, shaking from the severity of the situation.

Jonathon knew that he was in for it. If he let didn't bring the boy with him, Agravaine would have his head. If he did take the boy, Eleanor would probably have his head also. So much for not blaming the messenger. "What do you want me to do?" he asked her. "I can't walk away from here without a new recruit."

Eleanor could sense his tone of sympathy. He was trying to make sure she knew that he didn't want to rid the family of their only son, but he had to do his job to save his own neck. She looked down at the dirt, and for a few minutes, there was complete silence. She was thinking of a solution. At least, he hoped she was.

Finally, she looked at him, her eyes no longer full of fear. Instead, they were brimming with determination. "Meet me back here at midnight. You will have your soldier." With that, she went into her house, leaving him to ponder what she could possibly be planning.

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><p>Eleanor stood in the small barn that stood just feet away from her house. She looked at herself in the small mirror using the illumination of a candle, both of which she stole from her mother. She hardly ever looked at herself. She always thought herself very plain looking. Her light brown hair and brown eyes were hardly anything that a rich man would swoon over. She had no fairytales of her feminine charms lifting her and her family from poverty. So she just ignored her reflection most of the time.<p>

Now, she realized how much she didn't notice about herself. Her eyes were rather big, her face a bit long. Her hair, having not been cut for some time, had grown fairly long. Her face was dirty from lack of washing, but her skin was not awful. Had she been born to a wealthy family that lavished her with fine clothes and frequent baths, she may have actually been pretty.

She quickly put these thoughts out of her mind, knowing that soon any hope of having a womanly beauty would be completely cut away. She grabbed the scissors and started to sharpen them. After that, she started cutting it all away.

At first she didn't know exactly what she was doing. Her mom had always cut her hair before this. But she knew it had to be short if she was going to pass off as a man. Really, really short.

Slowly, she felt her head getting lighter. She tried to cut her hair the way Etienne always had his hair. When she was done, she was shocked how much she looked like him. She hardly even recognized herself.

Once Etienne was done with the hair, she worked hard to conceal anything else that would give away her gender. Her breasts were pretty small, so that wasn't a big issue. Her bottom and her legs disappeared for the most part when she put on Etienne's clothes. She practiced speaking in a lower voice, hoping that nobody would notice that she was very not very good at mimicking a man's voice. Eleanor figured she would get better overtime.

When she was done, she went back to the house. Her mother and brother were asleep. She quietly put the items that she had taken back in their places, and left a note next to her mother's bed. This was it. There was a very good chance that she could never see her family again. If she was caught, the army would most likely see it as treason, and she would be killed. She could also die in battle, a thought that terrified her more than she would have liked.

She silently apologized to them for leaving them, and walked out the door to meet Jonathon. There was no turning back now. She had to do this.

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><p>When Jonathon saw the figure emerge from the house, he was utterly confused. Surely it was not Etienne. Eleanor herself had said the boy was too sick. As the figure approached him, and he started to make out more distinct features, it started to dawn on him.<p>

"Eleanor?" he asked in absolute disbelief.

"You said that you need a soldier," she replied, hardly even looking at him. She continued walking forward, trying to skip the argument that Jonathon was starting.

"You do realize that you will be killed if you are discovered."

"Then we will have to make sure that nobody finds out," she said frankly. With that, she started packing her things onto the horse that Jonathon brought that take Etienne away on.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that."

"Well, first of all, my name is Etienne from this day forward. And second, if you tell anyone about this, I will kill you." With that she mounted her horse and stared at Jonathon, trying to will him to get on his horse so they could leave. Jonathon knew that there clearly was no arguing with this woman. The only thing he could do was help her.

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><p>Alright, so that was the second chapter. I hope you all aren't too bored. The next few chapters will go much faster and get to the good stuff. Also, the plot won't follow Mulan as closely, I promise.<p>

Cheers,

Tora2010


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again. Sorry this post took so long. I've been rather busy with school and life. But here it is!

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

At first, it was awful. Eleanor had always considered herself to be rather strong. She could carry two buckets of water at the same time from the well to her house. She could carry tons of wood for the fire in their home. However, lifting and fighting are apparently two different things. Not to mention the smell. She had never thought that any human being could smell as bad as these men did. For the first few weeks, she would try to sneak off to the nearby stream to bathe during the middle of the night. After a while though, she stopped caring. She would smell like a pig if it meant getting an extra hour of sleep.

The morning would start off early. She and the other nine men in the small hut right outside of Camelot would race to get ready. They had very few clothes between all of them so, most of the time, what they wore to bed would be what they wore during the day. Within a few minutes, they would be off on a run. This was the thing that Eleanor hated the most. She could hardly keep up with the men, even if she sprinted. She almost always felt like she was going to pass out, and threw up quiet a few times too.

After that, they would get their breakfast, which wasn't very much fun either. The food wasn't awful, but Eleanor had a hard time relating to her "comrades." She was always too worried that she may let something slip that would give her away. Every time someone would talk to her, it was to comment on how skinny she was or how girlish she looked. This was probably just playful banter that the men were using to make her talk, but it just made her more nervous.

Then, it would be hours of practice with everything. Swords, bow and arrows, sticks, and fists were all thing that Eleanor was expected to master. It made her arms ache and her body weak, but she knew she had to keep going. For her family. After awhile though, she began to feel less pain during practice. She began to feel her arms getting stronger, and her reflexes getting faster. She became one of the best archers in the camp, which made her hopeful. Maybe she could pull this off.

After a few weeks of just practicing, the matches began. Eleanor was a bit terrified when they handed her a wooden sword and was told to fight one of the men. She knew that she was strong, but she had seen this man before. He was once a blacksmith, spending all day pounding metal. She tried to remember his name, but couldn't seem to think of it before he made his move. The match was over in seconds, with Eleanor lying on the ground with a dislocated shoulder. She had never felt so much pain in her life.

Once she got up, the one person who she could actually talk to at this camp came to her aid. Jonathon had stopped the match and helped her back to his hut. When she first came to the came, she didn't particularly care for Jonathon. Now that he was essentially the only one she could truly talk to, he was her only friend.

"Don't worry, it will get easier," he had told her after fixing her shoulder. She smirked, wishing she could believe him. Sure, she was getting stronger and better, but she was also saddened by the likelihood that she would never see her family again. Jonathon understood that after a while, and Eleanor quickly became comfortable talking to him about anything. He reminded her of her father, which is exactly what she needed.

The camp would all sit together for dinner. A great fire would be started and stories of home and family would be shared. Eleanor would always listen to them, knowing that these men felt the same way she did. After a while, she began to join the conversations. She never really told them that much, but it made her feel better.

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><p>She began to learn the other men's names. She began to have inside jokes with them. She no longer felt awkward about the fact that she was a woman because they seemed to accept her without question. Once she began to grow those bonds, she began to enjoy her training. Suddenly, the morning runs weren't miserable because they weren't strangers anymore. The fact that she could keep up with them also helped. Her fighting skills also improved. She realized that what she lacked in upper body strength she could make up for with her speed and stability. She learned how to access an opponent and aim for their weak spots. After almost a year in the camp, she was taking down men that were two times bigger than her. Jonathon would always been their to pat her on the back after she won.<p>

For a year and a half, Eleanor had been in the camp. She had no idea how she was able to keep her secret this long. Most of the time, she just didn't change her cloths that often. When she did, she would go into the woods to make sure nobody saw her. Nobody seemed to think any different. To them, she was truly Etienne Ragnelle, a great fighter.

One day, a great knight rode up to the camp, and demanded that all of the soldiers been gathered. All of the men were buzzing about what news the knight was bringing. There was talk of war, and there was talk of a tournament. Eleanor prayed for the latter.

"Afternoon my good men," the knight started. "I am Sir Gwaine of Camelot. I have orders from the king himself to select the greatest swordsman from each of the training camps to come and compete in a tournament in Camelot. The king would like to see the progress of the training. The swordsman who wins the tournament will win a knighthood."

With this, the whole camp erupted in disbelief. Surely this man was not serious? Only nobility could become knights.

"King Arthur has a history of knighting men for their courage, strength and loyalty, not because of their family. So, tell me gentlemen, who is the best among you?"

The men fell silent, looking around to see who would have the ego to stand up and call themselves the best. Some seemed to be waiting for someone to deem them the best, while others seemed to be waiting to gain the courage to do the same to themselves.

"If you please, Sir Gwaine," Jonathon, who was standing right behind her, said in a booming voice. The whole camp turned to him, including Eleanor. She smiled at him, hoping that he would take this opportunity to claim the honor that he deserved.

"This lad right here is the best among us." Eleanor was confused for a second. Who was he talking about? Then she realized he was staring at her, and she froze in shock.

"What's your name?" the knight yelled. He was talking to her. She wanted to say something, but her words were caught in her throat. All she could do was stare at him like she had just seen hell itself.

"This is Etienne, Sir. He is a young, strong man who will not disappoint you." Eleanor looked back at Jonathon, processing his words.

"Well, let's see how good you are." The knight stepped down from the table he was standing on and began to walk towards the smooth patch of land the camp used for duels. She felt Jonathon take her shoulder and lead her towards the knight. Coming back to her senses, she stopped and turned to Jonathon.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"Don't you get it? The only person in this kingdom who can pardon you for what you've done is the king. If you become a knight, you can get a chance to befriend the king. It's the only way you make it out of this army alive," he whispered into her ear. Finally, it all made sense. He was trying to save her. He knew that she would be discovered and executed, or would die in battle. He was trying to save her.

She looked at the knight, who was waiting for her. He was strong, but still small enough to be fast. She started to think of a strategy for taking him down. After a minute of thinking, she knew she could do it. She turned to Jonathon and nodding, letting him know that she understood and was grateful for this opportunity.

With that, she was given a blunt sword and the match began. She waited for him to make the first strike. Most knights would allow the opponent to strike first, out of respect. However, she could tell that this man had a bit of an ego by the way he carried himself. She could also tell that he was underestimated her by the dumb smirk on his face. He wanted to get this over quickly.

He came at her with a direct strike, which she blocked with her sword. She used all of her weight to force his blade to the left (he was clearly right handed). In the brief second it took him to get control of his weapon, Eleanor aimed right for his legs. Her weapon landed just below the knee. That would slow him down.

She backed off while he took a second to recover. By the look on his face, he was shocked, just as she expected him to be. Now it was time to put him on the defense.

She started striking hard, aiming for the sides. He was quick to block her, but was not quick with his footing once she advanced on him. Soon, she had him backed into a corner. She swung at his head, knowing that he would block it. She then took a few steps forward. He tried to step back to compensate, but with his injured leg he was far too slow and far too distracted.

Then, with all of the force she had, she aimed at his side. She could feel a rib crack beneath the blow. The knight fell to the ground in pain. For a moment, the world was silent. She actually did it. She had won a duel against a knight.

The men in the camp were all cheering for her, but she just kept looking at the knight. He was clearly in pain, but not just because of his ribs. She had hurt his ego a bit too. She dropped her swords and kneeled before him.

"Are you alright? I might have overdone that a bit. It was a good match though." He looked at her and smiled. He had quiet a friendly face, which she had never noticed until now. If she not an undercover man, she would even think that him incredibly handsome.

"Clearly I underestimated you! Well done! What did you say your name was again?" he asked.

"Etienne, sir."

"Well, Etienne, I hope you're ready for the tournament, because you sure are a great fighter. I know I'll definitely be cheering for you." A servant came and helped him up. As he limped away, she could scarcely take her eyes off of him. She was started to get excited for this tournament.

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><p>So that's it for now. Let me know what you think!<p>

Tora2010


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to update! I've been very busy with life and stuff, so I hope it's worth the wait. Again, please review.

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

The first time Eleanor had really thought about what she was getting herself into was the day before the tournament when Jonathon was cutting her hair in their room at the inn. She thought about her home. It all seemed like another life at this point. She thought about the training camp, and how she managed to stay there for a year and a half without getting caught. Now she had a chance, thanks to Jonathon, to get out of it all. If she could befriend the king, she may get to see her family once again.

But what if she lost? The thought of losing was a constant plague on her mind. In the best case, she would lose and go back to the training camp. However, she could be killed in the tournament. She could be discovered. They could go after her family. Everything she has fought for could be destroyed.

"Why the miserable face?" Jonathon asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking."

"Thinking can get you into a lot of trouble, sometimes. You might start to doubt yourself." Jonathon said with a smile as he cut off yet other piece of her hair.

"I know, but its hard not to. I've been doubting myself since the day I left home."

"There, done." Jonathon said as he put down his scissors. Eleanor looked at herself in the mirror. Though her face still looked unfamiliar, she had gotten used to it. She was a completely new person.

"I have something for you." Jonathon walked over to his trunk, taking out a long, metal object and handing it to Eleanor. She took it from him, examining the beautiful craftsmanship.

"A sword? How on earth did you get time or money to get this?" Eleanor unsheathed the sword. It was breathtaking.

"I've had it for awhile. It was my son's sword. I gave it to him on his eighteenth birthday." Eleanor looked a Jonathon. There was sadness filling his eyes. Jonathon had told her about his son. He was killed in the Dorocha attack. She knew that part of him died with his son.

"I can't accept this. You should keep it, as part of your son's memory." Eleanor tried to hand the sword back to him, but he waved her away.

"No, please take it. Every time I look at it, it just reminds me once again of what I have lost. At least now it will be put to good use." Eleanor sheathed the sword and did something that she had never done to Jonathon before. She hugged him.

"Thank you, Jonathon. For everything. I don't think I would have survived this long without you." She told him, not letting go of him.

"No, thank you Eleanor. You've giving me someone to care and to pray for. I was devastated when I lost my son, but, because of you, I've gained a daughter." With that, she let him go and looked into his eyes. For the first time since she met him, he seemed happy.

Then, they heard a knock on their door. Jonathon immediately went to see who it was. When he opened the door, he found a skinny, dark haired young man waiting there with a letter baring the royal seal.

"Good evening sir. I have a letter for an Etienne." When hearing her name, Eleanor went towards the door to read her letter.

"To the champions,

His royal highness King Arthur requests your presence at a feast tonight to celebrate the upcoming tournament. He looks forward to meeting the brave young men who may soon become on of his knights." Eleanor read the letter out loud to Jonathon.

Meanwhile, the servant just stood in the doorway, apparently having nothing better to do. She looked at him, confused by his presence.

"Is that all?" She asked him.

"Well, typically if you have an answer, you tell me and I go and tell the King whether to expect you or not." The servant said. There was something off about this young man, though Eleanor couldn't quiet put her finger on it.

"Yes, he is honored by the King's invitation and will be there. Thank you." Jonathon answered for her. With that, the servant was off. She watched him walk away for a second before closing the door.

"Why did you say that I would go? I know nothing about feasts or the ways of nobility. I don't know how to dance, how to eat properly. I don't even have proper attire." Eleanor berated him.

"Then we have a lot of work to do, don't we?"

* * *

><p>Gwaine approached his place at the table. He always loved a good feast. There was nothing like having free food and wine served to you for an entire night. He was almost giddy with excitement.<p>

"Ah, there you are Gwaine. What took you so long?" Elyan asked Gwaine as he started to sit down.

"I was suffocating under a pile of women, of course. It's really a miracle that I made it out alive." Gwaine said with a cocky smile. Elyan just rolled his eyes; almost embarrassed that Gwaine was actually a knight of Camelot.

Gwaine scanned the room, making sure to take note of the champions in tomorrow's tournament. They seemed to all look the same: tall, muscular, and handsome. Except for one.

He spotted the fighter that he recruited from the camp just a day's ride outside of Camelot. Compared to the other fighters, he looked like a child. The young man was sitting at the far end of the room, as if he was trying not to be noticed. He didn't talk to anyone, just looked at his food and ate.

Gwaine decided to change that. As a knight of Camelot, one is expected to be charming and sociable. If Gwaine was going to bet on this 'Etienne' fellow, he was going to make sure he got every advantage he could. So, he got up and crossed the room.

* * *

><p>Eleanor could not remember being so scared in all of her life. She had been able to handle the Dorocha, her brother's illness, the army, but apparently nobility was the death of her. Jonathon had dressed her up in his finest shirt and trousers, gave her a lesson on proper manners, and had taught her a quick dance (just to be safe). With all of that, though, she still felt wildly unprepared.<p>

"Hello there." She almost jumped out of her seat, her train of thought broken by the tall, handsome knight that she had fought at the training camp. She tried to remember his name, but, for the life of her, couldn't piece it together.

"Hello, Sir." She said, hoping he didn't realize that she completely forgot his name.

"Call me Gwaine, please. And you're Etienne, right? It's good to see you here. Are you enjoying yourself?" He asked, sitting down in the empty seat next to her.

"Yes, sir. I mean, Gwaine." She took at deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "I've never been to a feast before."

"It's a bit overwhelming isn't it?" He said with a smile. She couldn't quiet figure him out. Was he trying to help her?

"Yes, well, I grew up in a small village." She responded.

"Far cry from all of this, I'm sure." He looked around the room, as if trying to find something.

"See the men sitting over there?" He pointed at a group of armored men sitting towards the front of the room. "Those are some of the current knights: Sir Percival, Sir Leon, and Sir Elyan." Eleanor tried to get a good look at them, hoping that she could remember all of their faces. Then, Sir Gwaine pointed towards the man and the woman sitting at the front of the room. "And those two, they are King Arthur and Queen Guinevere."

Eleanor looked at them for a good minute. She had always thought of the King as an old, wise man with a long beard and a fat belly, but this King was young. He was hardly older than her. The queen was absolutely beautiful, but not in the way that Eleanor had expected. She expected a fine, fair maiden, but the Queen looked like she knew how to put in a hard day's work. She was strong and full of life.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to them." Eleanor barely had a second to protest before Gwaine grabbed her by the arm and lead her to the front of the room. Her heart was beating so fast, she felt as if it could come out of her chest at any moment.

"Evening Sire. I would like to introduce to you to Etienne. He's going to be competing in the tournament tomorrow." The King looked at her, taking in her appearance before replying to Gwaine.

"It's nice to meet you. I hope Gwaine here isn't boring you to death. I'm sure a young man like yourself is used to livelier company." Gwaine simply shrugged off the insult. From the corner of her eye, she saw the same servant that had delivered her invitation smiling at the comment. Thinking nothing of it, she looked back at the King.

"Actually, he was just showing me around a bit. Introducing me to people." She silently scolded herself for being to casual with the King, but he didn't seem to mind at all. He turned to the Queen, getting her attention.

"Darling, this is Etienne. He's going to be fighting in the tournament tomorrow." The Queen smiled at her.

"Finally we get to meet one of the contestants. It seems as if they are all too shy to come and say hello." Eleanor tried to think of something to say. Should she say something witty? Should she complement the Queen? What kind of complements do women like the Queen like anyways?

"Well, it is hard to stand before such a fantastic lady as yourself without getting nervous." Gwaine said, realizing Eleanor's hesitation. The Queen smiled and went back to the conversation she was having before she was interrupted. The band started to play music, and people started to dance. Eleanor had hoped she could sneak away without being noticed before the dancing begun, but that was thrown out the window by now.

"Ask the Queen to dance!" Gwaine whispered in her ear.

"WHAT?" she said to him. What he out of his mind? Dance with the Queen? But she had no time to make up her mind. Before she could stop him, he pushed her towards the Queen's side of the table, and waved her on. Both the King and the Queen were looking at her, waiting for her to make her move.

"Um…uh…..Your majesty, may I have this danc?." She could barely hear her own voice, but apparently the Queen had. The Queen smiled and extended her hand to her. She took it, unsure of what to do. She looked at Gwaine, who motioned her to kiss it. So she bowed to the Queen, and kissed her hand. It felt so odd she could hardly stand it, but she put the feeling aside. Now, she had to show off her horrid dance skills.

* * *

><p>Gwaine and Arthur watched as Guinevere and Etienne danced. He was in no way good at dancing, but at least Gwen seemed be enjoying herself. The other champions watched them with malice, as if Etienne was trying to charm his way into knighthood.<p>

"Well, he seems different." Arthur said to Gwaine, who was smiling at the sight of the young man nervously dancing with Gwen.

"I know, that what I like about him. He's a good fighter too, believe it or not."

"Well, let's hope he makes it through the tournament. Maybe we will get to see more of him." With that, Gwaine smiled. There was something about the lad that he just couldn't seem to put his finger on. He had some sort of wisdom and energy that made him far different from any other man he had ever met. He couldn't wait to see him win the tournament.

* * *

><p>So, I worked with switching viewpoints on this chapter. Next chapter will be the tournament and will have a lot more Merlin in it. I just had to sneak him into this chapter though. Let me know what you thought!<p>

Cheers!

Tora2010


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! Sorry this took so long! Life has been hectic. I've been thinking about this chapter so much that I think I dreamed about it, so I'm happy that I finally got an hour to sit down and it out.

Normally, I don't do this, but I have to say thanks to serial blogger for being such a great cheerleader.

So enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 5<p>

Eleanor barely slept that night. Her thoughts kept on spinning around in endless circles about what could happen. She could lose. She could be reveled. She could get hurt. She could die. She could win. All of these thoughts mixed with a panic and an excitement that made her heart feel like it was going to pop out of her chest.

She could hardly stand as Jonathon put on her armor. Her hands were visibly shaking, and her brain was hopelessly lost in thought.

"Nervous?" Jonathon said as he handed her the helmet. She just smiled at him, fearing that her voice would crack if she tried to talk.

A servant appeared at the entrance to her tent, informing her that her match would begin soon. As Jonathon thanked the servant, Eleanor tried to gain some sort of composure.

"Don't worry. I know you can do this. You're smarter than they are. Just remember to think before you strike, and nothing can stop you."

* * *

><p>The first opponent she had was a muscular man, practically the ideal soldier. His broad shoulders and strong arms would surely defeat anyone who didn't know a thing about strategy. He wasn't particularly handsome and didn't seem very smart, but Eleanor waited until he made his move to truly make an assessment of how to bring him down.<p>

Luckily, that didn't take very long. He charged at her as soon as the match began. He raised his sword straight up into the air and ran towards Eleanor with a loud battle cry. What a stupid man.

Realizing that he was purely relying on his strength and masculine appearance to win the battle, Eleanor knew she could easily outthink him. She easily dogged the first blow, and moved quickly to deliver a blow to the man's back. He fell to the ground, but quickly tried to regain his stance, clearly embarrassed. While he did, Eleanor made the decision about where to strike next.

The man, apparently not realizing that charging straight for her was a bad idea, ran at her again. This time, she blocked the blow with her sword at an angle, making his sword fall sideways and out of his control for a few seconds. She took a step to the opposite side of where his sword landed, and, using all of her strength, hit him in the leg.

Caught of guard by the sudden blow, the man cried out and fell to his knees. Eleanor had learned long ago that strong men like him were not as strong in their lower body, making their legs perfect targets. Then, as quickly as possible, she hit the sword out of the man's hand and placed her sword on his throat.

The man put his hands up, yielding to Eleanor. For a brief moment it was almost like time had stopped. She could hardly process that she had just won. After all of her anxiety about this match, it was hard to believe that it was over so quickly. She had actually won.

It took a minute for her to process the cheers from the audience. She looked around and found Jonathon, smiling at her. As she walked back into her tent, she could hardly stop herself from jumping up and down in excitement. Maybe this would be easier than she thought.

* * *

><p>The next few matches were very similar. It seemed that the army only produced one type of warrior: all brawn and no brain. Eleanor was easily able to overcome any attack they tried.<p>

It wasn't until the second to last match that Eleanor truly had a challenge. This man was strong, but still fast. He was also slow to strike, apparently strategizing every move. Eleanor had been watching him for a while, trying to figure out his weak spots. When she couldn't find any, she could feel her brain flooding with panic once again.

Before she had a chance to face this man, the tournament with called off for the rest of the day due to the approaching dawn. Jonathon and Eleanor quietly headed back to their room at the inn, both thinking about ways to win this new challenge.

"Why not just aim for one of his limb?" Eleanor suddenly asked. "It's worked every other time."

"That's exactly what he will be expecting. Just as you have been watching him, studying his every move, I'm sure he has been doing the same for you." Jonathon responded. "You are going to have to figure come up with something else."

So, Eleanor did. For most of the night, before she was so tired she simply couldn't think anymore. When she woke up in the morning, she felt drained. She hadn't come up any brilliant strategy, but she knew that there was no turning back. She had come too far to give up now.

* * *

><p>Her opponent did not take his time showing Eleanor that he was ready to crush her. As soon as the match started, he came at her with speed that she had hardly ever seen in a man of his size. She was able to dodge his sword as just before it hit her on her right arm. She quickly moved back, trying to regain control of the situation, but he was quicker.<p>

They exchanged blows for a while. He easily blocked all of her moves with his sword, and, by some miracle, she had been able to hold him off. He was stronger than she was, and possibly even faster. After a few minutes of their swordplay, Eleanor was starting to panic. For the first time in the tournament, she had no idea what to do.

Distracted by her thinking, Eleanor hardly even saw her opponent move to hit her on her left side. Before she was able to block him, she felt his sword on her chest and her ribs caving in under it. She fell to the ground in shock, trying her best to breathe through the pain. She was starting to see stars, but willed her brain to focus and not succumb to unconsciousness.

The other contestant backed off, thinking that he had won. The crowd was starting to cheer, and an overwhelming sense of dread started to take over Eleanor. After all of her hard work, she had lost. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. She was supposed to succeed. She was supposed to win, and become a knight of Camelot. She was supposed to see her family again. But all she could do was lay there on the ground and admit defeat.

No. This couldn't be it. She couldn't to just roll over and give up her only chance of gaining her life back. She had to win, or die trying. As she gathered all of her strength to stand up and keep fighting, she heard Jonathon's words in her head. _Don't worry. I know you can do this. You're smarter than they are. Just remember to think before you strike, and nothing can stop you._

"Nothing can stop me," she whispered to herself as she lifted her sword. Her side was burning with pain, but she ignored it. The crowd had replaced their cheers with sounds of shock. Her opponent took his helmet off and looked at her with a smirk on his face, amused by her determination. He thought that she was pathetic. That she was just a fool that didn't realize that the match was over and she was done. He was in for a big surprise.

Eleanor made her moved with all of the strength and speed that she had left. Before her opponent could even blink, she was by his side, gathering her strength to strike him. As her sword fell towards him, she watched with glee as his smirk turned into shock. He held his arms up to try to protect himself, leaving his chest completely vulnerable. Her sword hit his chest, effectively knocking all of the air out of him and causing him to fall. He was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Eleanor barely had a minute to register what had happened before the pain in her side become too much to handle. She saw Jonathon coming to help her. She heard the crowd cheering for her. With a smile on her face, she let her mind slip into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Eleanor woke up to two voices talking right next to her. She recognized one as Jonathon's. The other was a man's voice that she didn't recognize. Once she was able to concentrate and to understand what they were saying, she realized that they were talking about her.<p>

"He has to withdraw from the tournament!" The other man exclaimed. "Look at him! He wouldn't last two minutes in another match." Eleanor opened her eyes, which proved to be a difficult task. Clearing her eyes, she was able to recognize the inside of her tent. She placed her hand on her side, which had apparently been wrapped while she was asleep, and feet the heat rising from the newly formed bruises. She paused for a second, remembering something very important. Bandages. Someone had to put the bandages on her. And they might have seen her... womanhood. Fearing the worst, she sat up in her bed, but immediately regretted it as her side erupted in pain.

Jonathon was at her side in a second, trying to get her to lie back down again. "Etienne, stop! You need to rest!" He called her Etienne. He wouldn't go through the trouble of calling her Etienne unless she was still a man. Letting out the breath that she didn't realize she was holding, she let Jonathon guide her back down to the bed.

"That was an interesting performance," the other man in the room said. She looked over at him and recognized him as the knight that she had fought in the camp. The knight that had come up and talked to her at the feast. Gwaine.

Unsure of what to say, she whispered a small "thank you."

"Listen, Etienne, you are really hurt. You need to withdraw from the tournament. The man your fighting next has been in the army for years. You won't last against him in the condition you are in," Gwaine pleaded. Eleanor was so confused by his actions. Why would he care if she fought or not? Didn't he want her to win?

"I have to fight. I have no other choice," she said as plainly as she could, hoping that he could understand that he was fighting a losing battle. The knight turned to Jonathon, a look of shock on his face.

"Are you seriously going to let him go through with this?" he asked, hoping to receive some support from the older man.

"It is his choice. If he thinks he can fight, then I will support him." Jonathon said. Typical Jonathon. Even if she decided to fight an army of ten thousand men all by herself, he would still be by her side, supporting her. Gwaine stormed out of the tent, upset by not receiving the answer he wanted. Eleanor looked over at Jonathon and smiled.

"I did it," she said tiredly. She had only been awake for a few minutes, but was already feeling exhausted. Jonathon put his hand on her forehead, pushing back her hair.

"You did it." With that, she fell back asleep.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Eleanor found herself being shaken awake by Jonathon.<p>

"Eleanor! Wake up!" As she woke, she sat up, worried about what new he could be bringing her.

"What? What's going on?" Jonathon smiled at her. If she wasn't confused before, she was now. She was about to go up against a well trained warrior with a major injury. What good new could he possibly have?

"I don't know how to explain this to you, but you won!" he said enthusiastically.

"What in heaven's name are you talking about?"

"The man you were going to face in the final round. He has withdrawn from the tournament!" Eleanor worked to process what he was saying. It didn't make any sense. Why would a man who had realistically won the tournament withdrawn? What could have possibly made him do something so stupid. Then it dawned on her.

"It was the knight, wasn't it?" She asked. Jonathon just shrugged his shoulders, not knowing the answer. Eleanor knew though. She didn't know why. But there was no other reason. She took a breath of relieve and of frustration. She had won, but she owed her victory and life to this strange man. All she could do was accept it. She had won after all. She would become a knight now. She was one step closer to seeing her family again.

* * *

><p>So, I posted this chapter earlier, but realized I wanted to conclude the tournament in this chapter. So if you're confused, sorry! Review please!<p>

Cheers!

Tora2010


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone! Sorry for being such a bad person. But anyways, here is the next chapter. I have been thinking about how to transition Eleanor to Camelot for a long time now, and I hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

Eleanor always had a hard time saying goodbye to people. She scarcely ever let anyone close to her, so the few people that she truly loved were very dear to her. When her father died, it was like someone had torn out her heart and set it on fire. She could hardly breath.

That is why she couldn't bear the thought of Jonathon leaving her in Camelot all by herself. She knew nobody, and nobody knew her. Who was going to cut her hair, listen to her when she needed to talk, and guard her secret? The idea of being alone made her sad. When she had joined the army, she had so much determination and tasks to keep her busy that she didn't have time to feel lonely. Now, she was a knight. No more morning runs and late nights of story telling. People brought her food and washed her cloths. It was nice for the first few days when she was recovering from the tournament and had Jonathon to talk to, but now that he was leaving, she had no idea what she was going to do besides ponder her loneliness.

"Are you sure you have to leave?" Eleanor asked as she walked Jonathon to his horse, though she knew the answer.

"The army wants me back at the camp. There are still many soldiers that need to be trained, though I doubt that they will be as interesting as you have been." Jonathon said with a smile. She could feel her throat tighten as her emotions started to take hold of her, but she stopped herself. Knights don't cry, at least not in front of others. She gave Jonathon one last hug, and said goodbye.

* * *

><p>Eleanor found herself exploring the castle later that day. She had never seen anything bigger in her life. She found herself wondering what she would do if she had all of this room to herself. She could have room for her entire village to live with her. She could probably live her whole life there without visiting every room in the palace.<p>

When she wandered outside, she saw the knights gathered in the training area, though they didn't seem to be doing a lot of training. Gwaine, Elyan, and Arthur seemed to be messing around, challenging each other to see who can swing their sword the hardest, while Percival and Leon just sat on the side and talked to each other. They all look so content being in each other's company.

"How are you feeling?" A voice behind her asked. She was so startled that she nearly tripped over her own foot. Spinning around, she saw the young servant who had come to her room at the inn to deliver her invitation to the feast.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that," she said, catching her breath.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't realize you were lost in thought," he said with a smile. What a funny little man, she thought to herself. "You didn't answer my question though," he reminded her. He sounded as if he was almost concerned, though that concept made no sense to her. He didn't know her at all, so why would he care.

"Who are you?" she asked before she could stop herself. She realized she might have come off a bit rude when she saw the hurt expression in the young man's eyes, but he quickly put a smile back on his face.

"I forgot that we haven't actually met yet. My name is Merlin, and I'm the king's manservant." He said.

"And why are you so concerned about my health, Merlin?" she asked in the most pleasant tone she could muster with her fake man voice.

"Well…I'm not sure. I guess I'm just friends with all of the knights, so I thought that I would just come over and make sure you were okay. The king doesn't need me right now, anyways, but I can go somewhere else if you would like." He said, clearly taken aback by her lack of comfort towards him. He turned to start leaving, and Eleanor felt guilty. Here was this kind young man trying to be her friend, something she desperately needed, but she was just being rude.

"No, Merlin, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a little on edge about this whole "knighthood" thing," she admitted.

"Why?" he asked curiously, turning back around to face her.

"I've never been in such a big city before. It's a bit overwhelming," she said. Looking at him, she could tell that he was sincerely interested. Maybe he was someone she could trust. Maybe.

"Well, you'll get to know more people."

"That's just it, though. I'm not very good with people, as you could probably tell."

"Oh, I don't believe that," Merlin said with a smile. Eleanor was completely at a loss of what to think about this servant. How could someone be this nice to a person he hardly knows? "You were very likable at the feast. You might just need some more practice."

Eleanor smiled at him. Maybe he was right. This would get easier. She would make friends, and hopefully be able to trust them enough with her secret. The idea of spending the rest of her life with nobody was dreadful, but this young man had given her hope within minutes.

"You know, you can join them if you like," Merlin said, nodding over to the knights, who were now starting to actually train.

"But I'm not a knight yet," she pointed out. And strictly speaking, she wasn't. Her knighting ceremony wasn't until tomorrow.

"Oh, they don't care. Trust me," Merlin sounded like he was speaking from experience. She looked over at the training area and saw an archery range not being used by anyone.

"Do you know where I could get a bow?" she asked. He followed her gaze towards the archery range.

"Do you like to shoot?"

"There's something calming about being able to focus on something with so much intent," she said, realizing how much she had missed practicing archery at the camp. "It feels nice to be in control of something."

* * *

><p>As Eleanor let loose her first arrow, she felt at peace for the first time since her arrival in Camelot. She wasn't thinking about her family, Jonathon, or her bleak future. All she focused on was her breathing and her aim.<p>

When the first arrow hit the center of the target, Merlin seemed impressed. However, after shooting seven arrows and hitting the center every time, he looked like he was in shock.

"You're good at this," he stated with a grin on his face.

"I was one of the best archers in the camp I trained at," she said, grabbing another arrow.

"Did your father teach you how to shoot?" Surprised by his question, Eleanor missed the center for the first time. She wondered how her father would feel if he saw her. Would he be proud or disappointed? She remembered when he taught Etienne how to shoot an arrow. Maybe he would have taught her when she was older.

"No, he didn't," she said quietly.

"I didn't know you were such a skilled archer." Gwaine and the other knights approached the range. Apparently they had been watching from the training arena.

"It will be nice having a knight that can shoot an arrow straight," the king said. Eleanor panicked for a minute, trying to figure out what to say.

"Yes, sire," was the best she could come up with.

"Etienne, we were wondering if you wanted to have a drink at the tavern tonight," Gwaine asked.

"And when he says we, he means I. He's a bit of a drunken fool, this one," Elyan said, patting Gwaine on the back. Everyone laughed a bit except for Eleanor. She had never been to a tavern before. In fact, she had never had alcohol in her life. When she was at home she drank water because it was all they could afford. Her mother used to say nasty things about the village drunks, so Eleanor had always thought of drinking in a negative light.

"I'm not quiet sure. I should probably get some rest before I'm knighted," she said, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"Nonsense! You're a knight of Camelot now! You deserve to have a drink at the tavern after all of your hard work in the tournament," Gwaine said. She could tell that he was determined, so she consented.

"Fine, but I'm only having one drink," she said as sternly as possible.

* * *

><p>It was around her third drink that she really began to feel it. First, her fingers became numb, then her lips. She found herself saying things that she didn't intend to say, though it hardly mattered. Nobody could understand her with how badly she was slurring her words.<p>

As Gwaine put a fourth drink in front of her, Eleanor tried to protest.

"Nonononono, I have to sleeppp," she stood up to head back to the castle, but immediately felt light headed. She wobbled backwards and became dangerously close to knocking over a bunch of drinks and starting a bar fight. Thankful, Gwaine was there to stable her before that happened.

"Careful mate," Gwaine said as he guided her back to her seat. "Bit of a lightweight, aren't you," he said with a grin. "Come on, I already paid for this drink. Just finish it, and then we can go home."

"You proomisssee?" Eleanor said, not even registering how idiotic she sounded.

"Of course! I am a knight of Camelot, and a knight of Camelot always keeps his word." With that, Gwaine raised his glass to for a toast. They clinked their glasses together and resumed drinking. Eleanor barely got through her fourth glass before she lost all control.

* * *

><p>Eleanor woke up to the awful feeling of her own nausea. She opened her eyes, but immediately shut them due to the horrible light that was shining on her face. She noticed extremely loud sounds of bird chirping around her and smelled the scent of grass beneath her. However, it smelled more like mead to her.<p>

When she opened her eyes again, she confirmed that she was indeed outside. As to where she was exactly or how she had gotten there, she didn't have the faintest idea.

"Ahh, you're awake," she turned and saw Gwaine sitting next to her, leaning on a tree. He didn't sound like his normal, happy self, though. He actually sounded rather angry.

"What's wrong?" Eleanor asked, the haze in her mind starting to clear and the panic over what exactly happened starting to take over.

"Oh nothing, I was just wondering when you were going to tell all of us that you're a woman."

* * *

><p>Yeah, I left it there. Sorry it took so long to get out to all of you. I hope you enjoyed it. P.S. whenever I have a hangover, everything smells like whatever I drank the night before. That is where I got a bit of my inspiration for Eleanor's first hangover. Anyways, please review!<p>

Cheers!

Tora2010


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. And I don't really have any excuses. So, here's the story!

I haven't done a disclaimer in a while, so why not? I don't own Merlin. Snaps for me.

Chapter 7

Eleanor looked at the dark haired knight in shock. Did he really just say what he said? No. Not possible. She managed to go a year and a half without getting caught, and now this? Maybe she was just still asleep. She then felt the nausea that was plaguing her stomach again and realized that she was very much awake.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, mentally slapping herself for playing dumb.

"What am I talking about? Are you kidding me? Are you really going to pretend that you don't have…"Gwaine paused for a second, thinking of a way to state the obvious gently "…woman parts?"

When he said that, she immediately started to panic.

"What the hell happened?"

"Well, we went to the tavern, as you know, and you said that you wanted to leave. However, I had already purchased another drink. Once you had that I'm pretty sure you were gone."

"YOU THINK?" she yelled.

"Hey hey hey, calm down…my lady" Gwaine looked at her and smirked as he mentally patted himself on the back for being so clever. "It's not my fault you can't hold your alcohol. Anyways, so we left and I told you that I would walk you home. However, while I was walking home, you insisted that you needed to go take a bath and get on some fresh clothes. I told you that I would help you do that once we got back to your room."

Gwaine stopped and a became serious for a brief second. "Mind you, I still thought you were a man at this time." Eleanor rolled her eyes, getting annoyed with how the knight was dragging out the story.

"Anyways, when I mentioned that I would help you, you pushed me over and ran towards the gates. I followed you while you ran outside of the city and into the forest. By the way, you are really fast!"

"GET TO THE POINT!" she yelled, ready to slap the idiot.

"Anyways, I lost you for a little while, but then I found you bathing in a lake. Naked."

"Oh no" Eleanor said to herself. She put her head in her hands, trying to stop the world from spinning.

"Well, I was at first a little angry, you know, felt a bit betrayed. After all, I did bet on you in the tournament. I also lost to a woman, which isn't very good for my ego. I tried to get you to explain, but you just wanted to go to sleep."

"Oh no" Eleanor said even louder, trying to figure out a way that she could rewind her life by a day. "I'm dead aren't I?"

"Well, see that's why I stayed with you. I mean, obviously a brave handsome knight would never leave a naked woman in the forest to fend for herself, but mainly I just want to hear your side of the story."

"What's the point? Aren't you just going to turn me in?" She laughed, considering different ways of getting out of the situation. Killing Gwaine would be too hard to cover up. She could always knock him out and say he was dreaming about her being a woman. She was brought out of her scheming by the knight's surprising answer.

"Meh, probably not."

"What?" she asked in shock.

"Well, I guess it depends on your story, but I find it a bit amusing that a woman was able to climb so high in the ranks of the army and become a knight without getting caught. Does anyone even know you're a woman?"

"Only one person, and he's not even in Camelot."

"Impressive" he said, sounding genuinely interested in her. "So tell me, how did you get here?"

So she told him the entire story. From the day Jonathon came for her brother to the day she won the tournament. All the while, Gwaine just sat and listened to her. It was strange telling her story to someone else, and for first time since she left home. It was almost as if she could feel a heavy weight being lifted off of her shoulders.

When she finished, the knight seemed a bit shocked at the whole thing. "Wow, I always fancied myself an unconventional person, but you really bring a whole new definition to the world."

"So you're not going to turn me in?" she asked one last time, praying for the right answer.

"No, I won't," he said with a smile. Eleanor looked into his deep brown eyes and saw that he was being honest. She could also tell that he was happy, though she had no idea why.

"We should probably head back to Camelot. You have a knighting ceremony to attend."

"Oh, right," she said, almost forgetting about the event due to the hangover and the events of the morning. Gwaine helped Eleanor up and they started their trek back to Camelot.

"By the way, you said Etienne is your brother's name. So, what's yours?"

"Eleanor" she said, giving into the fact that she had to trust this man with her life.

"Well Eleanor, I have to say," he said with a smile, "you have a lovely body."

As soon as he said it, she kicked him in the groin.

The knighting ceremony was a bit of a blur. Eleanor could hardly take her mind off of the events that occurred. She barely noticed the blade touching her shoulder.

"I, Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, name you Sir Etienne, a knight of Camelot from this day forward. Rise and repeat the knight's code."

Before she could even begin to talk, all of the knights in the room began to say the code with her. She looked around at all of them, at the brotherhood that she was joining. For the first time since her journey began, she felt like she had accomplished something significant. She was actually proud of herself.

She looked over at Gwaine and smiled. She didn't have to hide as much anymore. She had someone to talk to in this new world that she had stepped into. She felt an overwhelming sense of peace, as if she had finally found a home.

After the ceremonies, all of the knights, even the ones she had yet to meet, came up to her and congratulated her. Once they had finished, Merlin approached her.

"Congratulations, Sir Etienne. I'm sure your family must be very proud," he said with a smile. She grinned, recognizing the young man's good intentions.

"I'm sure they are. Thank you, Merlin." She felt a strong hand pat on her back.

"Well, boy, you're officially a knight," Gwaine said with a knowing smile, "how about we go grab an ale at the tavern to celebrate?"

"No! No thank you!" she said. "I think I've had enough ale to last me a lifetime." She started to turn to make her way out of the great hall.

"Not possible!" Gwaine argued. Eleanor turned back to him.

"Sir Gwaine, why are you limping?" His smile immediately disappeared and he looked down at his trousers at his prized possessions. Maybe she went just a little too far by kicking him earlier. But, in her defense, it was really funny.

The next morning, Eleanor found herself being woken up from a very deep sleep in her new, extremely comfortable bed, by a stranger knocking on her door. At first, she tried to ignore it. When it persisted, she realized that it might actually be something important.

"Come in?" she said hesitantly.

A young servant boy carefully opened the door and entered. "My Lord, I'm terribly sorry to wake you," the servant said, "but the King requests your presence at once in the courtyard."

Eleanor rolled her eyes and looked out the window, "But it's still dark outside!" she argued.

"I'm…terribly sorry," the servant said nervously.

"Ugh, fine. I'm up." She made her way over to her dresser and pulled out her new, knightly clothes to get dressed. Then she noticed that the servant boy was still there.

"Is there anything else?" she said, clearly questioning his presence.

"Well, actually my Lord, King Arthur has assigned me to be your personal manservant," the boy said, looking almost intimidated by her.

"Why?" she said in disbelief.

"It's customary for a Lord to have a servant." She let out a long sigh. It was way to early for her to be dealing with this shenanigans. All she wanted to do was crawl back in bed and catch up on the months of sleep that she had lost since she joined the army.

"What's your name?" she asked the boy, trying to sound as nice as possible.

"Cole, sir," he answered.

"Cole, could you please inform the King, or Merlin, or whoever, that I will be down in the courtyard as soon as I can."

"By, my Lord, don't you want me to stay and help you get ready?" the boy asked, eager to make a good first impression.

"No, I prefer to dress myself."

When she got to the courtyard, most of the knight had already assembled, and were waiting for the King. Just as she found Gwaine and started to ask for some information as to why they were woken up so early, the King showed up with Merlin closely following behind him.

"Sorry to wake you all. We just got word that there is a group of men attacking some small villages around Camelot," he said as Merlin handed him the few things he didn't have time to put on in his chambers. "We heard that they may be working with Morgana, so, obviously, we have to shut it down as fast as possible."

With that, all of the knights dispersed to gather their things to leave. Eleanor quickly realized that she had no idea what to do, but was saved by Gwaine grabbing her arm and guiding her to the stables. After saddling up and getting some provisions from Cole and the other servants, they were off.

The first hour of riding was fast and tiring. Eleanor was sure her bottom had never hurt this bad before in her life, so she tried to focus on other thing. She looked behind her and saw Gwaine riding with the very large knight that he pointed out to her at the feast. They were trying to race each other; though it was obvious Gwaine was winning. She pitied the horse that was carrying the other knight. It must be exhausting carrying all of that muscle weight. She then looked in front of her and saw Merlin riding by the King and wondered why he was with them. He was just a servant after all.

By the second hour, the ride slowed down dramatically. Eleanor took the opportunity to catch up to Merlin.

"Merlin?" she asked, trying to get his attention.

"Etienne! Good morning," he said with a cheery smile. She wondered if he ever stopped smiling.

"What are you doing here?"

"I always come on these sort of trips. Someone has to look out for his royal backside." He pointed at the King, who was about four feet in front of him and could clearly hear him.

She looked at him in disbelief. Had he really just insulted the King? The lack of response from the King was even more shocking. What kind of servant would talk to the King of Camelot like that?

She was broken from her train of thought by the sound of an arrow flying through the air. Time slowed down as the arrow passed by her and moved towards Merlin. She watched as the arrow came so close to hitting him, only missing him by an inch. It then wedged itself into a tree, alerting all of the knights of the attack.

Eleanor instantly drew her bow and arrow, aiming in the direction of the attack. She let an arrow loose as she saw a man sitting in a tree, readying another arrow. As her target fell to the ground, his apparent comrades started to attack.

The knights drew their swords and started fighting. After putting away her bow, she moved to join them. However, she was stopped by the sound of a panicking horse. She looked over and saw Merlin's horse bucking around with Merlin still on it. Before she had time to help him, he was flying through the air to the unforgiving ground.

She immediately dismounted and went to his side.

"Merlin? You alright?" When his eyes remained closed and she got no response, she noticed the blood that was starting to dampen the ground. She looked around, trying to find someone to help her, but everyone was busy fighting.

Realizing that she couldn't help or protect Merlin by just standing there, she quickly picked him up and threw him over her shoulder. Then, without thinking about which direction she was heading, she ran as fast as her feet would carry her.

Yay, long chapter! I hope you all liked it. I was originally going to have Gwaine be angry when he found out about Eleanor, but that is just not Gwaine. Also, I had to have some Merlin Whump, so look for it in the next chapter. Also, Merlin/Eleanor bonding time!

Please review! Reviews keep me going!

Cheers!

Tora2010


	8. Chapter 8

Is anyone out there? Heellllloo?

Hey everyone! Here is the next chapter. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Also, happy eleven days until the Dark Knight Rises hits theaters Day! Words cannot explain how excited I am for this film. I want to be Chris Nolan when I grow up. But, you know, female version.

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

After running for what felt like an eternity, Eleanor couldn't run anymore. Her legs just simply refused to carry her and her heavy cargo. Looking around, she had no idea how far away from Camelot they had wandered.

"Etienne?"

Hearing someone say her name, she spun around, looking for signs of another person. She then heard a small chuckle coming from the body she was carrying.

"Mind putting me down?" Merlin asked. She lowered herself to the ground, trying to be as careful as possible with the injured young man. She heard him moan a little, though she could tell that he was trying to keep quiet. Maybe so she wouldn't worry about him. Well, it was a bit to late for that. Once she got a good look at how pale he had become, she was tempted to sling him over her shoulder again and carry him back to Camelot right then, though she doubted she could walk another inch.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright. Feeling much better, actually," he said in a cautious tone. Merlin was obviously lying, but she was just not in the mood to challenge him.

"Let me look at your head," she said as she moved to see the wound on the back of his head. His hair was matted with dried blood, but it wasn't bleeding anymore. After taking care of her father, and then her brother, Eleanor knew a thing or two about medicine, and she knew that she needed to do something to treat Merlin's wound or it could get infected.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." She slowly paced towards the woods, her legs barely staying underneath her. All she wanted to do was collapse and sleep for a year, but she had to find some water and some yarrow or she would have a very dead servant to carry back to Camelot and a very angry king to deal with when she got there. Not to mention that she rather liked Merlin. He was kind to her from the moment she arrived, and she would be damned if she let him die on her watch.

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><p>Merlin sat in silence, waiting for Etienne to come back. He didn't understand why Etienne left in the first place, but the throbbing ache in his head stopped him from caring.<p>

Merlin had experience his fair share of head wounds in his life. Not as much as Arthur, to be sure. The prat seemed to be unconscious enough to gain permanent damage. Actually, that would explain a lot, Merlin mused. But back to the point, he had been hit on the head plenty of times to know when he had a concussion, and right now he had the mother of all concussions.

All he wanted to do as curl up and go back to the pleasant back abyss that occupied his mind before he woke up. He should probably wait until Etienne returned, though. He needed to hold down the fort while the knight was out doing whatever in the forest.

There was no fort to hold down though. There was no shelter except for the trees. But what if it rained? Merlin really didn't want to get his clothes all wet. Suddenly, Merlin was determined that rain was coming and that he needed to find some shelter so he wouldn't get wet. Then he could be warm and sleep for as long as he wanted. It was such a good idea that he was surprised he didn't think of it earlier. The memory of Etienne telling him to stay put was now long out of his concussed mind. So, with a grin on his face for thinking of a good plan, he slowly got up on his feet and walked further into the forest.

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><p>A few minutes after Merlin had left his post to go on his almost insane mission of finding shelter, Eleanor returned to the spot that she had left Merlin at and panicked when she saw that Merlin was no longer there.<p>

_Ok, calm down Eleanor_, she told herself, _maybe this is not where I left him_. She looked around to try to find a clue that told her that she was in the wrong place, but gave up that hope when she saw footprints on the ground. One pair matched hers perfectly, and the other had to have been Merlin.

Then, her panic turned into full blow hysteria.

"MERLIN!" she cried out, hoping that maybe he had just gone off to do his business or something. There's no way that he could have been abducted in the few moments that she was gone. If he had, she had to give major credit to the people who took him without her hearing something.

She looked at the footprints again. There were her footprints from where she put Merlin down and then a trail of them that lead off into the forest where she had gone to get supplies. Then, there were Merlin's footprints. It was then that she noticed a second trail leading off in the opposite direction from where she came. She was relieved to see no other footprints next to his, so he must have just wandered off, unless bugs or birds had abducted him. With that realization, she let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding and took off to follow the trail that Merlin had unwittingly left behind.

The sun was almost in the middle of the sky by the time she came to an old abandoned house deep in the forest. She looked at the ground and noticed Merlin's trail ended here.

"Merlin?" she called, hoping to get an answer from the house. When nobody answered her, she, once again, started to worry. She opened the nearly broken door to the house and found Merlin lying on an old mattress on the floor. She moved towards him and poked him. Getting no response, she determined that he was out cold and began treating his nasty head wound.

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><p>The first thing Merlin felt when he woke was an odd tingling sensation on the back of his head. It felt like a hundred ants were doing a dance on his scalp. Alarmed by that mental image, he instinctively moved to get the ants off. He was stopped, however, by something.<p>

"Merlin, don't. I just cleaned it," the other person in the room said. Merlin slowly opened his eyes, trying not to wince as the light assaulted his senses. Once his vision was clear he could tell that he was in some type of old cottage of some sort, though for the life of him, he could not figure out how he got here. Then he looked over to the person standing over him, a distinctively worried expression on his face.

"Etienne?" Merlin asked.

"Who else would it be?" the other man said. "How are you feeling?"

"Fuzzy. What happened, exactly?"

"How much do you remember?" the knight asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

"Well, we were on horses, I think… and then there was a bunch of shouting… and that's about it."

"Wow, you really hit your head hard, didn't you? You don't remember running away from me when I asked you to stay put? I found you here after you nearly scared me to death," the knight was clearly getting more annoyed the more he remembered of Merlin's concussed psychotic moment.

"I did all of that?" Merlin asked, completely shocked by his actions. "I am really high functioning when I have a head injury."

"Yes, if you calling running off into the woods like a maniac 'high functioning,' though I do have to give you credit for finding shelter for us. I just wish you had collected firewood for us while you were on your rampage." The knight stood up, drew his sword, and handed it to Merlin. "I'm going to go collect some wood for us. I hope you are half decent with a sword, in case anything happens."

Merlin smiled. Not because he was half decent with a sword but because he knew he could protect himself without it. Merlin wanted to try to protest, knowing that the weapon would ultimately be more useful to the knight if anything happened, but was too tired to bother. Plus, from what he could tell, this knight was incredibly stubborn.

"Don't touch your head, I don't want it to get infected. Also, if you run off again, I'm leaving you here," Etienne said with a tired sigh, as if the idea of running after Merlin again was just too much to handle for one day. Not waiting for a smart reply from the young warlock, Etienne left, leaving him to his own thoughts.

Without the distraction of another person, Merlin started to feel the ants on the back of his head again. Well, not ants. Probably just some type of treatment for the wound. Carefully, Merlin touched his wound and found a slimy substance there. From the color and smell of it, he could tell that it was a bit of yarrow. Gaius once told him about yarrow and how effective it was at keeping away infection. _How on earth would Etienne know that? _he thought to himself. This new knight was getting more interesting by the minute.

He then turned his attention towards the sword that the knight had left with him. Though it was nothing compared to Arthur's sword, it was quiet beautiful. The hilt was decorated with a picture of a big tree, an oak tree judging by the overall width of it. Nicely detailed birds flew around the tree, claiming it as their home. At the base of the tree sat a dog, though not the type of dog you would expect to see on a sword. Instead of being in a great battle or hunting other animals, the dog was simply laying that the base of the tree, as if enjoying the shade.

_What an odd design for a sword_, Merlin thought to himself. He resolved to ask Etienne about the sword when he returned. Until then, Merlin would occupy himself with what he does best: worrying about Arthur.

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><p>When Eleanor returned to the old cottage, she was completely exhausted. All she could think about was her warm comfortable bed back in Camelot. She looked around, trying to will Gwaine, Arthur, or anybody to ride out from the distance and come to their rescue. She knew that it was wishful thinking, but she really wanted to get Merlin some proper help. And she wanted her bed. Badly.<p>

Just when she was about to rejoin Merlin back in the run down woodpile that they were calling shelter, she heard a panting noise behind her. Afraid of what she might find, she turned around slowly. A million scenarios ran through her head (lions and tigers and bears, oh my!), and she tried to think of a way to save Merlin in case her paranoia was correct and she had managed to find a demonic wolf in the middle of the woods when she didn't even have her sword on her.

Needless to say, she was ecstatic to find that it wasn't a demonic wolf, but a big black dog. Though the threat level decreased with this discovery, she still had no idea how to handle the dog. So, she stood still, hoping the dog wouldn't attack her and just leave on his own. She did this for a few minutes with no success. So, in a moment of complete panic, she threw a piece of wood at the dog, hoping to maybe scare it off.

This did almost the opposite. Instead of being afraid of the stick, the dog simply caught it in its mouth and brought it back to her. Dropping it at her feet, the dog looked up at her again, as if expecting something from her.

Eleanor had never really known many dogs. Her neighbor back in her village had a dog, though it just sat in the sun most of the day. But when this black haired dog looked at her, she knew that it wanted her to throw the stick again. So, very slowly, she bent down to pick up the stick. Standing back up, the dog jumped back, clearly excited about the opportunity to fetch the stick once again. So, knowing that it was the perfect way to get the dog to leave her alone, she threw the stick as far into the forest as she could and ran inside the cottage.

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><p>With a loud thud, Etienne slammed the pathetic excuse for a door after stepping inside; dropping nearly half of the pile of wood he was carrying in the process.<p>

"What took you so long?" Merlin said with a mocking tone in his voice.

"There. Is a dog. Outside of the house," Etienne said, taking a calming breath after every few words.

"So?" Merlin asked.

"So? It's a big black dog!"

"Yeah, there are a ton of them in these woods. They say that whenever a new king would claim the throne, the old king's dogs would be released into the forest. It seems that those dogs have families," Merlin said, sounding as matter-of-fact as he could ever sound. He didn't remember where he had heard the story, but he liked the idea of these creatures that were cast out of Camelot not just survived but multiplied.

"Yeah, I don't care terribly about how the dogs got here. I just want to make sure they aren't going to eat either of us," Etienne said, still clearly frazzled by the idea of being surrounded by wild dogs.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. I haven't heard about anyone being attacked by these dogs." With that, Etienne visibly relaxed. Once he had, Merlin could see that he was clearly exhausted.

"Why don't you rest for a while? I'll keep a look out," Merlin suggested.

"No, you're wounded," Etienne said, trying not to show how good a bit of rest sounded.

"With how exhausted you are, you might as well be wounded! Seriously Etienne, get some rest, or we'll never make it back to Camelot," Merlin stated. Etienne seemed surprised by the servant's argument, but was too tired to care. Without protesting again, he walked over to the mattress, threw off his armor, and face-planted into the bed. Within a few minutes, Merlin could tell that he was asleep.

Deciding to take vigil in front of the door, Merlin grabbed Etienne's sword and moved to his look out post. He soon found himself examining the sword again, trying to figure out what the symbolism behind the craftsmanship could be. Once he bore of that, his thoughts drifted off to Camelot.

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><p>So, I'm terribly sorry about the wait again for this chapter. I hope you all liked it! Please review!<p>

Cheers!

tora2010


	9. Chapter 9

Hello dearest readers,

Please accept my sincerest apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I appreciate all of the reviews and support from the last chapter. I am attending Fanfiction Neglectors Anonymous, and, I believe that overtime and with much effort I will become not only a better writer, but also a better person. Thank you for your support.

Here is the next chapter.

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><p>Chapter 9<p>

The next morning, Eleanor left Merlin at the cottage to hunt for some food with an old bow and quiver of arrows she found. The weapon was nothing compared to the beautifully crafted bow that she lost while fleeing the attack yesterday morning, but it would do the trick. Within a half an hour, she had two squirrels, which would be plenty of food for her and Merlin. Satisfied with the hunt, she grabbed her game and headed back to the cottage.

When she was about halfway there, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She turned around, but only found the forest staring back at her. Trying to convince herself that it was just her mind playing tricks on her, she continued heading towards the cottage. She barely made it two minutes before she head a strange cracking sound.

Before she had a chance to process what was happening, the trap was sprung. She felt the ground rise up from underneath her feet and pull her up towards the trees. She dropped the dead squirrels and her bow as the net engulfed her.

After a few seconds of struggling, Eleanor saw a man step out from behind a tree. He was an old man with rags for clothing and an old leather sack hanging on his back. Given his appearance, she guessed that he was a hermit.

"Are you alone?" the old man asked Eleanor. Maybe if he thought that Eleanor was alone and had nothing of value on her, he would take the dead squirrels and leave her alone.

"Just me."

"Hmm, it's not a good thing to lie. Lies cause people to isolate. They become a lone drifting leaf on the stream of life." _Oh good_, Eleanor thought, _a crazy old man has me trapped in a net. Just what I needed. _

"I'm not lying. I am the only one. I was separated from my hunting party." Eleanor knew she was a great liar. She had a pretty interesting history to prove it too. This old man just saw through it though.

"Yes, the knights were hunting the witch. You claim you are a knight, but the knights are brothers and are never alone. Therefore, if you are alone, you are not a knight. You live a false life." Eleanor was seriously starting to worry about this old man. Clearly, he was completely out of his mind, and she couldn't reason with a mad man. If only she had her sword with her, she could cut herself out. Of course, though, she had to leave it with Merlin.

"The false knight looks for escape. But, you see, there is no escape. The knights of Camelot cannot be led astray by falsehood. Therefore, I will kill the intruder and purify the round table." With that, the hermit took a knife out of his bag and approached the net. Eleanor tried to move away from the knife as he stabbed at her, though she knew it was pointless. She was completely trapped. She didn't think that her destiny was to get killed by a crazy old man with dreams of purifying Camelot while trapped in a net in a forest. She thought for sure that she was going to be executed or killed in battle. As she pondered this, she decided that this was a much more amusing was to go.

After a few seconds, the old man was starting to get closer to his mark. Eleanor was high up and the man was short, but her luck was running out. Soon he would be successful, and she would be gone. She said a silent prayer to whoever was listening that Arthur and the knights were looking for them, and that they would save Merlin before this lunatic found him.

Then, just as soon as she had finished her prayer, the stabbing stopped. She heard a loud grown come from the forest. Both her and the old man turned and watched as a big black dog emerged from the forest.

"You have come to protect the false knight," the man said to the dog, as if he expected the dog to say something back. "But I am the protector of Camelot. I have been in this forest watching since I was cast out." Eleanor was shocked by this revelation. Who the hell was this guy? Before she had more time to think about it, the dog lunged at the man, biting into his neck.

The old man tried to fight off the dog, but it was useless. The beast continued to bite the man's throat. Though Eleanor had been in the army for almost two years now, she was pretty sure that the site of a dog biting a man's jugular was the most gruesome she had ever seen. After a minute of struggle, the man was dead.

Once the dog had accomplished its mission, it looked up at Eleanor. At first, she was terrified that the dog would attack her next, and she become very thankful for the net that was holding her out of the dog's reach. Instead of attacking, though, the dog walked away from Eleanor and back in the direct that it came from. Once the dog was out of site, Eleanor took in the biggest breath that she had ever taken in her life.

After a few minutes of struggling, she managed to grab an arrow out of her quiver and cut herself out of the net. When she was free, questions started to pile up in her mind. Why had the dog saved her? What was the old man talking about when he said he was the protector of Camelot? She grabbed the old man's sack, wanting to answer one of those questions.

She dumped all of the contents of the bag out onto the ground to find that it was filled with parchment. On the parchment were drawings of Camelot, King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and the Knights of the Round Table. This man had really been watching Camelot for years.

Before she had much time to contemplate why an old man was carrying around these drawings, she heard something move. She looked up and saw the dog walking towards her. She was about to panic when she saw that the dog was carrying a stick. The placed the stick in front of her and waited for her to throw it.

So, the man was right. The dog had saved her because she threw a stick for it once. Once she realized this, she just couldn't help but start laughing. The dog just stood there, giving her a strange look, which only made her laugh more. Before she knew it, she was flat on her back laughing hysterically at how bizarre this whole situation was. The dog came up to her and licked her on the face, as if trying to get her attention.

"Well, aren't you just the strangest creature, but I guess that many people could say that about me."

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><p>Once she had reached the cottage, she found that Merlin was still asleep. She could hardly believe that she had already had potentially the strangest day of her life, but he had been asleep for all of it.<p>

The dog followed her into the cottage and proceeded to smell the place and claim it as his territory. Eleanor went over to Merlin and gently tapped him.

"Merlin, time to wake up." Merlin let out a groan, clearly unhappy with the idea of consciousness. She took a look at his head wound, which, luckily, was not bleeding anymore. While she was very thankful for that, she knew that Merlin needed to get to Camelot. If his wound were to get infected, he might as well be dead.

"Where are we?" Merlin asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Ok, this loss of memory thing is really starting to worry me. Do you seriously not remember?" Merlin paused for a minute to think about this question, clearly trying to dust away the cobwebs in his mind.

"I remember riding with Arthur, and my head hurts. That's about it."

"You probably just have a bad concussion," Eleanor stated, trying to sound as comforting as she could possibly sound. "We need to get you back to Camelot." Merlin nodded in agreement and looked around, trying to jog his memory.

"Why is there a dog in here?" Eleanor looked over at the dog, who was now sniffing Eleanor's sword.

"That's my new best friend," she answered. "He had been following me for a while and he saved my life this morning. I think I'm going to call him Onyx."

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><p>Though they had only been walking for a few hours once the sun was at the top of the sky, it felt like they had been walking for days. Eleanor was exhausted from a lack of sleep and from the events of this morning, though she was doing much better than Merlin. Clearly suffering from his injury, Merlin was starting to sway. She just prayed that he could hold himself for a bit longer. She wasn't sure if she could carry him with her current state.<p>

Onyx was walking in front of them, apparently navigating the way home. Before they had left the cottage, Eleanor climbed up a tree to try and find a direction that would take them home. Luckily, she didn't have to climb very far to see the castle. It was probably a day walk south from them, but she was starting to doubt that estimate.

A few more hours passed and Merlin could no longer walk on his own. They had stopped for a rest and to get some water not long ago, but it did little to revive Merlin. By the time the sun was going down in the sky, she was close to dragging him through the forest.

Things became even worse when it started to rain. At that point, Eleanor was giving Merlin a piggyback ride and her legs were barely holding her up. Onyx walked slowly in front of her; constantly looking back to make sure that she was following. She remembered yesterday when she had carried Merlin away from the attack. When she found the cottage, she thought that she was as tired as she could physically be. Now, she was proving herself completely wrong. She was so tired that her brain couldn't form cohesive thoughts besides _just a few more steps._

She walked for about an hour more in the rain before her legs finally gave out on her. She tried to get back to her feet, but only succeeding in falling back into the mud. She looked over at Merlin, who was muttering some gibberish in his sleep. She reached over and could feel how warm he was. Fever. An infection. Which meant that she failed.

If she had an ounce of energy left in her, she probably would have started crying. She honestly would have rather died at the hands of that crazy hermit instead of lying here in the rain knowing she had failed. She felt Onyx move up against her, trying to comfort her. She laid her hand on his head, trying to convey her thanks to him.

As her body started to shut down from exhaustion, she reflected. She thought of her mom and her brother and how she would never see them again. She thought of her father waiting for her on the other side. She thought of Jonathon and how he would lose another child. Finally, she thought of Gwaine, though she wasn't sure why. She recalled when she first met him at the camp. She remembered what he did for her in the tournament.

Though she was sure she would never know, she thought about how things could have been different. What if she had never left home? What if Gwaine had met her when she was still, in the world's eyes, a woman? Could they have had something together? Maybe she could have been a mother. The world started to go dark, but she was still smiling, comforted by the thoughts of what could have been. Before she lost consciousness, she could have sworn she heard his voice.

Merlin knew he was in trouble. All he saw before he finally passed out what Etienne lying on the ground next to him. He felt the rain hit his face and smiled. _I knew it was going to rain. Maybe my memory isn't completely gone._

As he started to go to sleep, he felt something pull him back to the real world.

"Merlin? Can you hear me?" He felt someone shake him, someone who knew him. Arthur.

"Merlin, please don't do this." Was Arthur begging? Merlin tried to laugh, but couldn't seem to get his body to respond to him. All he managed was a small groan.

"Merlin?" He felt Arthur pressing his hand against his throat, checking for a heartbeat. "He's alive, but he needs to get back to Gaius," Arthur declared. He then felt the hand move from his neck to the back of his head to check his injury. "He's got a nasty head injury. How is Etienne?"

"No serious injuries," Merlin heard another voice say. "He's just exhausted." Merlin recognized the voice as Gwaine's. "We should head back before it starts thundering."

"Right, lets go." Merlin felt himself being lifted and laid across a horse, which was a place he found himself often.

"What should we do about the dog?" Gwaine asked.

"It looks like it will follow Etienne no matter what we do. Just leave it be." Arthur replied, mounting his horse. "We have bigger things to worry about." Merlin, completely drained from trying to stay conscious while Arthur and Gwaine were talking, quickly fell asleep as they proceeded to gallop towards Camelot.

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><p>So, yes, PLEASE REVIEW. I really appreciated all of the reviews from the last chapter. Again, I will try to move away from my Fanfic neglecting ways and update soon.<p>

Have a good weekend!

Tora2010


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone…. I'm sorry….**

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><p>Eleanor could have sworn that she was in some blissful form of the afterlife. She was warm and comfortably floating in oblivion. Everything was so calm. She felt like she was home again with her mother, father, and brother. She was going to bed on a breezy summer night after eating a large meal. Her father had come home from a successful hunt, and her mother made an incredible dinner out of it. Everything else that floated in her conscious was just a dream.<p>

She was happily floating in this Nirvana until she heard someone calling out her name. She tried telling them to pipe down, but she was so tired. She just wanted to stay in her dream, but the voice persisted. She slowly became aware of reality. She realized that she was lying on a bed that was extremely comfortable. She felt something squeezing her hand, and the voice told her that it was time to wake up. Slowly she opened her eyes.

"About time," the voice said. She looked over, blinking a few times to focus her tired eyes. There next to her bed was Gwaine, squeezing her hand with that big, cocky grin on his face. She resisted the urge to smile, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

She tried to talk, but ended up just coughing. Gwaine handed her a cup of water and helped her sit up. After she finished half of the cup, he took it away from her so that she wouldn't make herself sick.

Sitting up was a whole new experience. Her head pounded with her heartbeat, and she could feel the blood rushing down her body.

"How long was I out for?" she finally asked once she felt steady enough to talk.

"About a day and a half. Gauis doesn't think there is anything wrong with you, so that's good. You're just exhausted. Probably for days if you carried Merlin for a long as we think you did." Gwaine explained. Suddenly, everything came back to Eleanor.

"Merlin! Is he okay?" she said in a panic. Gwaine put his hand on shoulders, making sure she tried not to get up.

"He's fine. He got a nasty head wound, and a concussion to go with it, but he will be fine with some rest." Gwaine explained. "The last time I checked, he was still asleep." Eleanor took a deep breath and relaxed back onto her pillows.

"It's a miracle he didn't get an infection"

"Yeah, I agree. Gauis said that the wound was fairly well treated, though. I didn't know you were a healer and a cross dresser." Gwaine said with a mischievous grin. Eleanor slapped the hand that was resting on her bed.

"My mom was the healer in our village until my brother got sick. Then, she spent all of her time with him. She taught me a few things so I could help everyone who was hurt in the Dorocha attacks."

"Well, I'm glad she did," Gwaine's tone got very serious. "Thank you for saving him."

"What do you mean?" Eleanor was thoroughly confused. Merlin had told her that he was close to the knights, but she didn't think that they were actually friends.

"Merlin is a good man. The greatest friend I've ever had." Gwaine looked at Eleanor, his eyes filled with fond memories of his closest friend. "I'm really grateful to you for bringing him home."

Eleanor smiled at him. She had never seen this side of the knight before. She had seen him be cocky and arrogant, charming and friendly, but never caring and protective.

"Yes, well I've gone rather fond of him too. I would have never forgave myself if he didn't make it back to Camelot in one piece." Suddenly, she felt something move on her bed. She sat up a bit more to see a big black ball of fur sitting at the foot of her bed.

"Oh yes, it seems that you have another new friend. We tried to get him to go away, but he refused to be away from you."

"Not surprising. Apparently, I am very good a throwing sticks to dogs. In fact, this dog saved my life just so that I would throw him a stick."

"What happened?"

"It was strange. There was this crazy old man in the forest, and I got caught in one of his hunting nets. He called me a 'false knight' and claimed to be a protector of Camelot, whatever that means."

"Well you are a false knight," Eleanor glared at Gwaine, clearly not amused. "Oh, sorry m'lady. Please continue." Gwaine continued to smile while Eleanor just rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, he came at me with a knife, but then Onyx came out of nowhere and killed him."

"Onyx? You've named him already?"

"Of course! He saved my life. This dog is my new best friend." Eleanor reached over to pet Onyx, waking him up. He rolled into her touch, letting her know exactly where he wanted to be pet.

"Well, it could be interesting to have a dog around the castle. Just make sure you keep him clean. He was filthy when we found you and Merlin." Gwaine reached over and scratched Onyx on his chest, causing Onyx to let out a groan of happiness. "Anyways, I should let you get back to sleep. Gauis says you will need at least two days of rest to fully recover. I'll be here when you get up, and I'll run down to the kitchen to grab you some food."

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><p>All and all, being a knight was a pretty good deal. Eleanor slept in her own room in a bed softer than a cloud. Of course, she had to share it with Onyx because he refused to sleep anywhere else, but she got used to that quickly. She had a constant supply of good food and clothes. She had Cole taking care of her and Onyx constantly. He got used to the idea of her not wanting him to dress her after awhile, and things found there natural rhythm.<p>

Knight training was nothing compared to the training in the camps. It was mainly just sparing in the middle of the day. No more early runs, which Eleanor was incredibly thankful for. What she didn't anticipate though was the king commanding her to spar with him one day in the training fields.

"Come on, Etienne. All of the knights have to do it," the king said. Eleanor knew this was true, but also was terrified of hurting the king or his pride. With all of the practice, she was in the best shape she had ever been. In fact, she beat Gwaine every time she spared with him. However, this was the king, and she couldn't say no, so, hesitantly, she put on her helmet and prepared to fight.

Another thing Eleanor didn't anticipate was the king completely kicking her ass. She started off the match on the defense, not wanting to hurt the king, but he attacked with such speed and strength that all she could do was block his strikes. He had her cornered quickly, giving her no place to go. Within a few minutes, the match was over.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Etienne," the king said, taking off his helmet. He seemed disappointed in her, something she wasn't used to. He also looked so pleased with her after she brought Merlin home safely. She looked down at the ground, disappointed in herself, while the king walked away.

"Don't worry about it too much. The king was trained from birth to be a fighter. He's got a few years on you too, but you will catch up," Gwaine said as he patted her on the shoulder.

"I hope you're right," Eleanor said. "I just don't get it, I have been doing so well in all of my training. I thought I would have put on a better fight than that."

"Hey, why don't we go down to the tavern?" Eleanor shot Gwaine a death glare, reminding him of the last time. "Only one drink this time, I swear. It will help you relax a little bit. Who knows, you might even have some fun."

Fun? What a concept! Eleanor couldn't remember the last time she had real fun. Sure, it was fun kicking the crap out of people, and she was sure she had fun when she got drunk and revealed herself to Gwaine, but it wasn't the same.

"Fine, but you're buying!"

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><p>Eleanor laughed as a drunken man stood on the tables and attempted to organize the other drunks into song. Currently, it all just sounded like a bunch of shouting, but deep down somewhere there was a melody.<p>

"Looks like a good time to leave." Gwaine shouted to her, trying to be heard over the singing.

"You don't like drinking song?"

"Not with this crowd, trust me." Gwaine said, paying the bartender for the drinks and leading her outside. "Please tell me you aren't going to run off into the forest again."

"Nope, won't happen again." Eleanor said with a laugh.

"I hope it does." Eleanor answered him with a quick jab to the shoulder. Though she had masqueraded as a man for almost two years now, she would never understand their indecency.

"Gwaine, will you help me train more?" Eleanor said, trying to change the subject. "I mean, I thought that I was in good shape. After all, I have beaten you many times in sparing, but you give a good fight against the king. It just doesn't make sense…" Her mind went to work, putting the clues together, and, suddenly, it all made complete sense.

"You've been letting me win…" Eleanor stopped walking, blocked by this realization. Gwaine turned around and looked at her with a confused look on his face. "You've been letting me win!?"

She was furious. After all of the work she had done, this stupid man has the gall to bring up her confidence so high, make her think she was so much better. Really, he was making her weaker. Was he trying to prove a point? Was he jealous of her skills, or mad because she had beaten him? She didn't care anymore, and didn't even bother waiting for an answer before she turned on her heals and ran.

Ironically, she headed for the forest. She knew that Gwaine, given the chance, would point this out later. But it didn't matter to her. She just wanted to get away from him. She heard him following her, trying to get an opportunity to explain.

"Stop! Etienne!" he shouted at her. At least he had the brain to still use her male name this close to Camelot. But she didn't slow down. So, he sped up.

For a few minutes, Gwaine chased her through the forest. She knew that it was pointless. She was faster than him, and he would tire quickly. She just needed to keep running for a bit longer and he would give up. As if fate were making fun of her, though, she felt her foot catch on a tree root, and she face planted into the ground.

She silently cursed her clumsiness and tried to get up before Gwaine caught up, but it was too late.

"Are you okay?" Gwaine said, grabbing her arm to try and help her up.

"Get away from me!" Eleanor said, tearing her arm out of his grasp. "I don't need you're help."

"Ok, fine, I won't touch you, but please let me explain!" Gwaine said between breaths, still winded from running.

"Explain what? That you were trying to make me look weak in front of the king? Or that you are embarrassed that you were beat by a woman, so you needed to knock me down just a bit." Eleanor yelled, unable to control her anger with the glass of alcohol in her system.

"No, that's not it at all!" Gwaine yelled back.

"Then what is it? What reason could you possibly have for holding back on me? Do you want me to die in battle?"

"Eleanor, shut up!" Gwaine yelled, unable to hold his composure anymore. Eleanor, completely shocked by his uncharacteristic outburst, complied.

"You just don't get it do you? You think that everything is a battle, and that everyone is out to hurt you. Well, just so that you know, I don't want to hurt you. That's why I've been holding back in practice." Gwaine said, his face flushed.

"Why are you worried about hurting me?" Eleanor asked. She moved closer to Gwaine, but he just looked down at his hands.

"I wish that things were different Eleanor, I really do," he said quietly.

"What do you mean?" He looked up at her, and she hardly recognized him. He looked at her in a way that a man has never looked at her before. It didn't make feel like a knight, or a woman pretending to be a man. She felt like her true self again, and he was gazing at her true self and acknowledging it. Admiring it. And, once again, it all made sense.

"Of course…" she said, and then she mentally slapped herself for not coming up with anything better to say.

"I'm sorry, Eleanor. I honestly don't know what has come over me," Gwaine looked back down at the ground, as if ashamed for his feelings. "Normally, I never get attached to anyone. You're just so incredibly different. You're not like anyone I've ever met, and, for some reason, I can't keep my mind off of you. I really want…" Eleanor raised her hand, effectively silencing him.

She had never done this before, but it felt so necessary. She needed to let him know that she shared his feelings, but there were no right words for that now. So she had to act. Slowly, she leaned forward, and placed her hand on his cheek. He just looked at her, not making any attempt to move away, know what was coming. Before she could stop herself, she leaned forward and kissed him.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry again! Please don't hate me for being an awful person! The series finale really took its toll on me. Anyways, please review so I know if it sucks!<strong>

**Cheers!**

**Tora2010**


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